


Across A Crowded Room

by orphan_account



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-12-08
Updated: 2000-12-08
Packaged: 2019-05-15 12:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14790534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: CJ and Toby observe each other at a party.





	Across A Crowded Room

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Disclaimers: The West Wing and it's characters are the property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this.

Rating: PG-13

Author's Notes: I would like to thank AJ for beta reading this.

Summary: CJ and Toby observe each other at a party.

The party was in full swing, and Toby was miserable. It wasn't all that surprising to him that he was miserable. He hated these events, and wanted this one to be over as soon as possible. He sloshed the drink he was holding around. Something, or rather someone, caught his eye from across the room. She really was a beautiful woman. It wasn't something he was just realizing, he had known it for a long time. He was certain that he hid how he felt very well. It was probably not obvious to anyone that he was head over heels in love with her. He didn't know when it had happened, he just knew that it had. There were so many thoughts that crossed his mind when he looked at her; the moment he knew he was in love with her, asking her out the first time, their first kiss, and so many other things.

************************************************************

He couldn't believe he was going to do it. He was certain that she would say no, but he had to do it. He looked in her office and saw she was there. He took a deep breath, and went in.

"Hi, CJ."

"Toby, what do you need?"

"I was going to ask you a question." Toby said shifting and looking at his feet.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"What were you going to ask me Toby?"

"Do you have any plans for dinner?"

"No."

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" Toby asked. He braced himself for her to say no. He was so certain that was what she would say.

"Yes, that would be nice." CJ looked at him and smiled. She could see the uncertainity on his face as she spoke. It was then that she realized he was asking her out on a date. "You mean like on a date?"

"Yeah, and I guess now that you know that you don't want to go. That's fine. We'll just forget that we had this conversation." Toby said as he quickly turned to leave.

"Toby." Her voice stopped him before he reached the door. "Where are you going to take me?"

"You still want to go?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Does Italian sound good to you?"

"That's fine. What time?"

"Eight if we can get out of here."

"Okay." CJ said. As she watched him leave there was a small smile on her face.She couldn't believe he had done that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were walking quietly together. Occasionally he would reach for her hand for a moment. He would let go of it just as soon as he touched it. She couldn't help but smile. It really was too cute. She knew that he wanted to kiss her, but he was too shy to do it. It surprised her that he didn't realize that she wanted him to kiss her. She guessed she would have to be the one to make the first move.

"Toby." She said quietly. He had just taken her hand again, and as soon as she spoke he let go of her hand.

"Yeah?" He was still walking and she stepped in front of him.

"We've been going out for how long?"

"A month." His face fell as he was certain she was going to say she just wanted to be friends.

"Yes, we have. Don't you think that it's time?"

"Time for what?"

"Toby!"

"Seriously, CJ time for what?"

"Toby, I never thought even you could be this obtuse!" She said as she stepped closer to him. She stopped when she was only inches from his face. She reached for his arms and put them around her waist.

He couldn't believe how good it felt to have her in his arms. If he moved a just a little bit it would be so easy to kiss her. He didn't know if that was what she wanted. So he would be content to just hold her.

She smiled at him for just a second. She could tell he didn't realize it, but she was right where she wanted to be. She closed her eyes and kissed him lightly. She hoped that would be enough. The moment she felt his arms tighten around her she knew it was, and then he was kissing her.

"Do you know how long I've wanted you to do that?" She said breathlessly as he pulled away from her.

"No."

"I wouldn't complain..." She was unable to finish what she was saying because he pulled her into a very passionate kiss.

***********************************************************

She knew he was watching her. She wasn't going to look over at him. She was not going to give into that temptation. She wasn't going to let him know he held that kind of power over her. In truth, she knew that he already knew that. There were many times when she wondered how she had gotten in this deep. She didn't know how it happened. She just knew it had. She wasn't planning to complain about it anytime soon. He was still looking at her. She wasn't going to give in. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how weak she was when it came to him. She couldn't help herself, she looked up. Their eyes met across the room, and even from that distance she could read the triumph in his eyes. She couldn't help but smile at him. Everytime she looked at him, there were so many memories that crossed her mind; the moment she knew she was in love with him, the first time he said he loved her, and the day he proposed.

*********************************************************

She could feel that she was waking up. She didn't want to wake up. It meant that the night was ending, and this was one night she didn't want to end. She closed her eyes and tried to forget that she was waking up. She sighed as she felt him start to kiss her shoulder. Suddenly she wasn't as sleepy as she had been, but she really didn't want him to know she was awake. She wasn't able to keep the pretense up for very long. She snuggled closer against him.

"Good morning." He whispered in her ear.

"Good morning." She replied back.

"Do you know how much I love you?" He asked as he pulled her even closer to him.

She turned and looked at him. She could feel tears in her eyes as she looked at him. She had told him weeks ago that she loved him. She had not been certain if she had ever expected to hear the words from him. She buried her head against his shoulder to try to hide from him how it was effecting her.

"Oh, I think I know that now." She said as she got her emotions under control again. She lifted her head from his shoulder, and glanced at the clock. She then kissed him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She walked into his apartment, and called his name. It was dark and quiet and she had no idea where he was at. He had left work hours earlier and had asked her to meet him here. She could see a little bit of light coming from the dining room. So, she walked in there, and she found him. There was a table sat for two and it was illuminated only by candlelight. She wondered what he was up to, but it was obvious to her that he wouldn't tell.

As they finished eating, he got up and walked to her side of the table. She knew exactly what he was up to, when he knelt beside her on one knee.

"You know how much I love you." Toby said. CJ didn't trust her voice so she just shook her head. "I'm not very good at the romance thing."

"I don't know about that. I think there is evidence to the contrary in this room." CJ said softly.

"What I'm trying to say is," Toby said as he took a small box from his pocket, "is I love you very much, and I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. Will you marry me?"

CJ knew there was no way she would be able to prevent the tears that were falling from her eyes. "Yes." She said softly.

As she was speaking, Toby slipped the ring on her finger. He then got up, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her passionately.

*****************************************************************

He was still staring at her. He couldn't help it. There were times when he couldn't believe he was lucky enough to have her in his life. It was even less believable that soon he would be lucky enough to have her as his wife.

She really loved it when he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He was definitely not doing a good job of that tonight. She wished that the party would soon end. She really wanted to talk to him.

They were walking through the back of the hotel with the Presidential party before they had a chance to be near each other. They stayed a little back from the others, and it wasn't long before Toby reached for her hand. She looked at him then, and she could read the promises in his eyes. She smiled at him since she knew exactly what he was thinking. There was only a couple of Secret Service agents behind them, so she leaned over and kissed his lips. Just as she did so, Josh turned around to say something to them.

"You two should really have gotten a room. "Josh laughed. "We can't leave you alone for even a moment. You know you can wait two weeks until you're married to do that." Josh said as they continued to kiss. "Why do you think we didn't let you anywhere near each other tonight?"

"Because you were afraid we would do this?" Toby said.

"Yeah." Josh said and rolled his eyes.

They walked the rest of the way with their arms around each other. When they reached the outside they separated and walked apart from each other. Their eyes never left each other, and once they were in the car they were sitting hand-in-hand.

The end.

 

 


End file.
